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MILLIONS GATHERING WORLDWIDE TO RING IN NEW YEAR

New Zealanders sang and danced their way into 2011, with firework displays and sold-out concerts entertaining revellers in one of the first countries in the world to welcome the new year.

In the biggest city, Auckland, explosions of red, gold and white burst over the Sky Tower while tens of thousands shouted, danced and sang in the streets below.

In the southern city of Christchurch, thousands of partiers shrugged off a minor 3.3 earthquake that struck just before 10 p.m. and celebrated in Cathedral Square. The city has rumbled with thousands of aftershocks from a powerful 7.1-magnitude quake that damaged buildings across the city on Sept. 4.

New Zealand police reported only minor incidents as revelers in dozens of towns, cities and rural gatherings celebrated at open air concerts and pyrotechnic displays.

As the clock ticked closer to 2011, cities across Asia readied for midnight events ranging from traditional prayers in Japan to a massive pyrotechnic display in the shape of a dragon in Taiwan. Europeans were looking forward to celebrations that could help them forget their economic worries.

Across the Tasman Sea in Sydney, Australia, 1.5 million people gathered on folding chairs, picnic blankets and blowup beds to watch the spectacular fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Organizers have promised a special midnight finale to the display, always one of the world’s top New Year’s pyrotechnic shows.

In New York City, nearly a million revelers were expected to cram into the streets around Times Square to watch the traditional midnight ball drop. The 20-inch snowstorm that blanketed the city will be just a memory thanks to work crews and warmer temperatures.

At midnight Thursday — with just 24 hours to go — hundreds of people milled around Times Square as crews finished preparing TV sets for New Year’s Eve broadcasts and vendors sold hats and noisemakers.

This year marks the first time Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, officially celebrates the new year with a countdown blowout, complete with a light show and foreign DJs in front of the city’s elegant French colonial-style opera house.

Vietnamese typically save their biggest celebrations for Tet, the lunar new year that begins on Feb. 3. But in recent years, the Western influence has started seeping into Vietnamese culture among teens, who have no memory of war or poverty and are eager to find a new reason to party in the Communist country.

At midnight in Taipei, Taiwan, fireworks will form a spiraling dragon climbing up the city’s tallest skyscraper.

In Japan, New Year’s Eve is generally spent at home with family but those who venture out go to temples to pray for good luck in the new year. At Zojoji, a 600-year-old Buddhist temple in central Tokyo, thousands were expected to release balloons at midnight carrying notes with their hopes for 2011.

In the Philippines, powerful firecrackers have injured at least 245 people in recent days and Health Secretary Enrique Ona urged safety during Friday’s celebrations, saying he feared up to 1,000 injuries.

Many Filipinos, influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy New Year’s celebrations drive away evil and misfortune. But they have carried that superstition to extremes, exploding huge firecrackers sometimes bigger than dynamite sticks to welcome the new year.

In Europe, many people will be partying simply to forget their economic woes after a year that saw Greece and Ireland needing financial bailouts and others, such as Spain and Portugal, battling speculation that they will need similar aid.

In London, thousands will witness a musical and firework display at the 135-meter high London Eye, located on the southern banks of the Thames River. The Eye, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, lies almost opposite the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament that will chime in 2011.

If not at home or at private parties, Spaniards traditionally gather in their main town squares to eat 12 grapes one by one as the bell in the square marks the countdown to 2011.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year message that Europe is dealing with a major test and must strengthen the euro, even as she celebrated Germany’s emergence from the economic crisis, powered by strong exports.